Rack-cleaning device



'June 9,- 1925. 1,541,466

A. J. A. BELL RACK CLEANING DEVICE Filed May 12, 1924 .wvz/vrorz ARTHUR domv A BELL l atented June 9, 1925.

'LENETDV, s'rarts ARTHUR seen A. BE L. or oKoroKs, ALBERTA, onn'ana.

BACK-CLEANING DEVICE.

Application filed May 12,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ARTHUR JOHN A. BELL, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and a resident of Olrotolts, in the Provinceoi' Alberta, Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Raclr-Cleaning Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in rack cleaning devices, the objects of which are to provide a means capable ct attachment a grain separator and to be operated therefrom, by which weed seeds and'the like, may be blown from grain racks when adjacent the separator to'prevent such seeds being shaken onto the ground as the grain racks are being hauled back into the field for reloading and which accounts largely for the amount of weeds grown in subsequent crops of grain. A further object is to provide for such means being readily brought into engagement with a drive belt of the separator when required.

The invention consists essentially of a blower mounted on either side of a separator to which is fitted an air pipe having a flexible hose and a valved air nozzle for cleaning purposes, as will be more fully described in the following specification in which Fig. 1 is a view of a separator with my invention mounted thereon.

Fig.2 is a perspective view of the blower and belt engaging mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a View showing a gear drive mechanism. V

Fig. 4 is a view showing the air nozzle valve.

In the drawings like characters 01 reference indicate corresponding parts in each The numeral 1 indicates generally a grain separator having a straw blower belt 2 running over pulleys 3 and 4, one of which is driven from any suitable source. 5 inclicates the feed hopper adjacent which the grain racks are drawn to discharge their loads of grain sheaves prior to being cleaned. The numeral 6 indicates generally a blower (see Fig. 2) 'which consists of a pair of frame members 7 secured to the side of theseparator 1 between which a pair of slide rods 8' are provided, a flanged bed plate 9 is slidably mounted upon the rods 8 and is resiliently supported by springs 10.

The numeral 11 indicates a casing bolted 1924. Serial No. 212,535.

to the plate 9 having a blower fan 12 mounted therein, upon a shaft 13 is rotatably mounted in apair of journals 1d a drive pulley 15 is keyed to the outer end of the shaft, which is adapted to be brought into engagement with the belt 2. A discharge outlet pipe 16 extends upwards from the casing 11 which terminates in two branch bend 17 so that a hose 18 may be carried touboth sides of the separator for convenience, to each hose I provide a tube 19 hav ing a nozzle 20 at its outer end and at a convenient point in the tube 1 provide a pivotally mounted butterfly valve 21 (see ing. at) having an. operating button 22 which is so shaped as to engage the slots 23 of a boss sec'ured to the tube to hold the valve in either open or closed position. is a spring by which the button is held in resilient engagement with the boss. Driving communication is establishedv between the blower 6 and the drive belt 2 by depressing the plate 9 and its parts by means of a screw 26 which extends through a threaded aperture 27 in the upper frame member 7, the screw is provided with a hand wheel 28 having peripheral slots 29 any of which are engaged by a spring latch 30 to prevent its turning by the vibration of the separator. 8 Should it be necessary owing to lack of space on the side of a separator to make a blower with a very small fan rendering high speed desirable, I provide a gear transmission as shown in Figure 3 in which a gear wheel 31 is keyed to the blower shaft engaging a driving gear 32 coupled to a driving pulley 33, which latter are rotatably mounted upon a stub shaft 3 1 carried upon a rocking arm 35 journalled at one end upon the shaft 13 and connected at theouter end to a nut 36 which has endwise movement along a screw shaft 37 suitably mounted from the separator wall and operated by a hand wheel 38. The rocking arm 35 on being raised by means of the screw 37 brings the pulley 34 into engagement with the belt, thus transmitting the drive through the gears 31 and 32 to the blower fan.

Having thus described the several parts of my invention 1 will now briefly explain its use.

to the feed hopper releases the weed seed therefrom and allows it to fall onto the parts of the racks. As each rack is emptied it is drawn forward to a point adjacent the blower where the nozzle is used to direct the air from the blower 6 to any part of the rack desired to dislodge such seeds, thus avoiding the possibility of its being scattered during the return trip of the racks to the field.

When the two branch bend 17 is used with a pair of hose connections and the tubes 19, the valves 21 are kept closed except when one or both of the tubes and nozzles are in use.

If rack cleaning is not constantly necessary the drive between the pulley l5 and the belt 2 is disconnected by turning the hand wheel 28 to raise the blower upon the slide rator having a driving belt, of a guide frame secured to the Separator body, a blower having a drive belt adapted to be driven from the drive belt, said blower being slidably mounted upon the frame and means for moving the driving pullev into and out of contact with the driving belt.

2. A rack cleaningattachment for grain separators, comprising guide rods attached to the separator frame, a plate slidable on said rods spring means serving to holdthe plate in a predetermined position on said rods, means for shifting the, said plate in the direction of and against the resistance of said spring means and a fan blower carried by and movable with the plate and including a pulley on the fan shaft adapted t engage or disengage a drive belt of the separator dependent upon the position of the plate. is I r Dated at Okotoks, Alberta, this 26th day of April, A. D. 1924.

' ARTHUR JOHN A. BELL.

WVi-tnesses a RONALD KNOWLES,

E. A. DAGGETT. 

